Like Oil And Water Part 2
by KazukiWolf17
Summary: Part two in the series. Chojuro must pass the deadly chuunin exams and face his rival, Suigetsu. Chojuro represents the oil and Suigetsu represents the water.
1. Chapter 1

**Like Water And Oil Part 2**

Chojuro glanced around the large room that was filled with twenty-seven other ninja, all of them glaring fiercely at each other. He was about to take the written portion of the Mist Village's chuunin exam, which was a big deal for the nine-year-old. At his age, he was one of the youngest to take the test. _One _of the youngest, that is. The only other person in the room that was Chojuro's age was Suigetsu Hozuki. Chojuro and Suigetsu had been rivals since their Academy days, from the very first day, when Suigetsu had bullied him without reason, up to now, when they could possibly have the chance to fight each other to the death. Suigetsu smirked at the idea. Once all the tests were passed out and the rules were explained, the exam began. Chojuro looked down at his paper and saw that there were only ten questions. Ten _very hard_ questions. He racked his brain as hard as he could, but to no avail. The test was too difficult for him.

He looked around him and saw that Suigetsu was fast asleep on his desk with a small puddle of drool on his paper. _He'll never become a chuunin like that, _Chojuro thought to himself. Slowly throughout the room, frustrated teens left the exam, either because they'd been caught cheating or the exam was too hard. After an hour, only Chojuro, Suigetsu, and four others were left. And then, all of a sudden- "Congratulations!" boomed a jonin who had teleported into the room. "You six have just passed the first round of the chuunin exam!" "Eh?" said Suigestu, lifting his head off of his desk. Chojuro heaved a sigh of relief. He had just passed the written portion with only one thing on his paper- his name. "You each have twenty minutes to go get food and clothes from your house and then you will report to the Swamplands for further instruction," the jonin announced. Chojuro gulped nervously. The Swamplands were the most dangerous areas in the Land of Water.


	2. Chapter 2

Chojuro stood outside the gates to the Swamplands and stared at its intimidating demeanor. The atmosphere in and around the area was dark and eerie. As a child, Chojuro had heard scary stories about people venturing into the Swamplands and never returning. On top of that, they were home to giant insects and reptiles and deadly quick sands. _I can do this…I think_, he thought to himself. Chojuro was too entranced by the Swamplands to notice Suigetsu sneaking up behind him. With an evil grin, the boy thrust his palm into Chojuro's back and pushed him into the fence. As Chojuro yelped in pain and surprise, Suigetsu chuckled with glee. "W-what was that for?!" Chojuro cried. Ignoring him, Suigetsu sneered, "Be careful in the Swamplands, four-eyes! I hear that giant snakes eat little rats like you!" Chojuro opened his mouth to defend himself, when the jonin said, "Listen up now, I'll only say this once." Everyone turned to look at him. "From now on, you will all have to fend for yourselves. It's you alone against everyone else," he continued. "You must survive out here for five days and make it to the tower at the center of the Swamplands in time." The jonin then reached into a bag and pulled out six small scrolls. "In my hands I hold three Earth scrolls and three Heaven scrolls." He began to pass them out, while saying, "You will each get either an Earth or a Heaven scroll. However, you need both scrolls to enter the tower." The jonin gave the last scroll, a Heaven one, to Chojuro. "I'm sure you all know how to get the second scroll," he added ominously. All six genin stood side by side before the gate. At the jonin's cue, the gate was opened. "Disperse!" he cried as the six leapt into the Swamplands.

The first four days in the Swamplands were relatively easy for Chojuro. He only fought off a giant lizard twice and, since he only ate small portions of his packed food each day, shortages were not a problem. He almost fell in a pit of quick sand once, but regained his balance just in time. Despite the hunger and sleep deprivation Chojuro suffered, the first couple days were fairly easy compared to the fifth day in the Swamplands.


	3. Chapter 3

The day started with Chojuro eating an apple for breakfast and setting out for the tower. He jumped from tree to tree for several hours, when all of a sudden, two shuriken came flying at his face. Chojuro flipped out a kunai just in time to deflect them. He landed on the ground and faced the one who had tried to kill him, a boy who looked to be around fourteen, with spiky, jet black hair and beady black eyes. "How convenient," the boy said smirking. "I have an Earth scroll and you just happen to have a Heaven scroll." He pointed at the scroll strapped Chojuro's side. "Y-you won't be able to defeat me easily," Chojuro warned.

"Hn!" The boy lunged at him. As he raised his fist, Chojuro stepped out of the way to dodge the blow. He then punched the boy in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Although he didn't look it, he was actually very strong. The boy crashed into a tree and, due to inertia, swung his head back and smashed it into the tree. His limp body slid slowly down the tree to the ground. Chojuro walked over to him, crouched down, and pulled the Earth scroll out of his pocket. "I'm sorry," he mumbled to the unconscious ninja.

Just then, a kunai shot down and pierced the teen's back, killing him instantly. Chojuro blinked in surprise and looked up to see Suigetsu standing in front of him. "W-why did you do that?!" he cried angrily. "I thought I'd do you a favor and kill this piece of trash. Besides, it didn't look like you were going to get the job done," mocked Suigetsu. "Suigetsu, you didn't have to ki-" "Dammit, Chojuro! We're shinobi, it's what we do! If you don't like it, you should just quit!" he interrupted, annoyed. As he turned to leave, he looked back and added with a smirk, "Besides, you're too _soft_ to be a ninja." With that, Suigetsu left Chojuro kneeling beside the corpse, clenching his teeth in frustration.

Chojuro finished the last of his food for dinner and spent rest of the evening and most of the night trudging tiredly through the marshy Swamplands. At around 3:00 AM, he finally arrived at the central tower. He took the Heaven and Earth scrolls out from his shuriken holder, unrolled them, and placed them criss-crossing each other on the ground. "I hope this works," Chojuro muttered as he made the Tora hand sign. The scrolls glowed luminously, getting brighter each second. Then, with a puff of smoke, Mei Terumi appeared before Chojuro. "Oh, Chojuro! I thought you'd never summon me," she said, her rusteel red hair blowing in the wind. "M-Mei-sama!" cried Chojuro. "It's pretty late. We should get you to bed," she continued. "You'll need your strength for tomorrow." "Er, o-okay," Chojuro said, blushing.

Mei pressed her hand against the seal on the door and it opened instantly. Chojuro stepped in shyly after Mei. She led him up a flight of stairs and down the hallway to an empty bedroom. "You can rest here," she said sweetly. "Good night, Chojuro," she added with a smile before turning to leave. "G-good night, Mei-sama." Chojuro walked into the room and let his bag drop to the ground next to the bed. He took his glasses off and set them down on the nightstand. Without bothering to take off his shoes, the exhausted boy fell onto the bed and sank into a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chojuro awoke the next morning to find that he was in the same exact position as he had been when he had gone to sleep. He sat up slowly in bed and put on his glasses. He got out of bed and put on some clean clothes. As he stepped into the bathroom to brush his teeth, Chojuro saw himself in the mirror for the first time in five days. He had large bags under his eyes from his lack of sleep, and his light blue hair was messy and unkempt. **_**I look terrible**_**, Chojuro told himself. **_**Oh, great, and Mei-sama saw me like this**_**. He brushed his teeth and straightened his hair the best he could before going to get breakfast. **

**At the bottom room of the tower, there was a small table with food. Chojuro, then remembering his painful hunger, took as much food as he could fit on his plate. The ravished boy sat down and immediately began stuffing his face with muffins and toast. At the other end of the table, the only two other survivors, Suigetsu and a boy named Seiji, argued loudly with each other, to which Chojuro ignored. After breakfast, the jonin from before came in and said to the three remaining shinobi, "The break's over! You three will now go into the battle room and the third and final round of the chuunin exam will take place!" Chojuro swallowed the rest of his muffin before joining Suigetsu and Seiji in the battle room.**

**Once inside, all the doors were closed and locked, trapping them inside. "Since there are only three of you, two of you will fight and the winner will go up against the third person, and the winner of that fight will become a chuunin," the jonin explained. "And I'll be the proctor for these matches," a voice from behind said. Chojuro turned around to see his old teacher, Ao, walking over to them. "Remember kids, this is a fight to the death, so don't hold back." Suigetsu smiled deviously. "All right, let's have Suigetsu and Seiji for the first round. Chojuro, you can go wait up in the stands." As Chojuro climbed the stairs up to the stands, Suigetsu and Seiji took their places opposite from each other. "You may begin when you are ready," Ao announced. Seiji flew full speed at Suigetsu with a kunai in his hand. He stabbed Suigetsu in the heart and let him fall to the ground.**

"**Heh. That was easy," Seiji muttered triumphantly. "A little too easy, don't you think?" Suigetsu teased as his body melted into a puddle of water. The water zoomed towards Seiji, who was too slow to get out of the way in time. The water swished around him and formed an inescapable bubble. Seiji squirmed and screamed and tried to break free, but the bubble remained firm. "He…he's going to drown him," said Chojuro. "What a cruel little boy," said Mei, appearing next to Chojuro. "Wah!" he yelped as he fell out of his chair. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you. I just thought I'd come and see the final round of the exam," she said gently. "Of course, uh, i-it's alright. You just s-sort of, er, surprised me," Chojuro stuttered as he sat back into his chair. By now, Seiji had somehow managed to break Suigetsu's water prison. Then, the splashes of water solidified into hundreds of ice shards that all pointed towards Seiji. He let out one last bloodcurdling scream as the ice shards flew into him and impaled every part of his body. **

"**And the winner is Suigetsu Hozuki! Next up is Suigetsu versus Chojuro," cried Ao. Suigetsu, who had now come back to his regular form, grinned viciously at the bloody body on the floor. Chojuro trembled nervously at the gruesome sight. "Good luck, Chojuro! I know you can do it," Mei encouraged. "Th-thank you." Chojuro jumped down to the battle floor. **_**It's okay**_**, he mentally coached himself. **_**I can do this… I hope.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Ao watched as the two boys faced each other. The final round of the chuunin exam was here. "You may begin when you are ready," he said. Suigetsu chuckled as he once again melted into water. The water rushed over to Chojuro and reformed right behind him, all in the blink of an eye. "That last battle was quick," Suigetsu taunted. "I think I'll take my time with you, four-eyes." Chojuro spun around to punch him, but Suigetsu jumped out of the way. Suigetsu's foot shot up and whacked Chojuro across his face, knocking his glasses off. Blood flowed from his busted lip down his chin and, without his glasses, Chojuro's vision blurred tremendously. Nearly blind, Chojuro did not see Suigetsu raise his fist but felt the impact of the blow as Suigetsu punched him again, this time sending him flying backwards and skidding on the hard floor. Chojuro moaned as he slowly got back up on his feet. He heard Suigetsu sprinting towards him and stepped out of his way. Chojuro then struck Suigetsu to the ground. As he stepped back, he heard something crack. Chojuro picked up his glasses to find that his lenses were scratched up and broken.

"You know," Suigetsu said while wiping blood from his mouth. "You're getting to be a real nuisance." He lunged forward and slammed his fist into Chojuro's stomach. "Gah!" he cried as he slumped down to the floor, unable to move or breathe. "Chojuro!" Mei cried worriedly from the stands. _I-I can't lose now. Mei-sama is watching me._ Suigetsu used his foot to roll Chojuro over onto his back so that he was looking up at him. Chojuro tried to stab a kunai into Suigetsu's leg, but it swam right through. "How rude," Suigetsu chuckled. _How do I defeat water?_ Chojuro asked himself. Suddenly, he had an idea. Suigetsu raised his foot directly above Chojuro's face. As he stomped down, Chojuro rolled over and his foot slammed into the floor. Chojuro ran as fast as his legs would carry him over to the light switch.

"Don't run away from me, you coward!" Suigetsu snarled, chasing after him. Chojuro dashed over to the light switch and took out his last kunai. He turned around just in time for Suigetsu to punch him in the chest. "Ngh!" Chojuro heard his ribs crack and coughed up a bit of blood, but he grabbed Suigetsu's arm and held on. He took the kunai and jammed it into the light switch. Sparks of electricity exploded from the switch and the lights flickered crazily. "Aaagh!" Chojuro and Suigetsu screamed as they were both shocked violently. The sparks finally died down and one of the light bulbs burst. Chojuro let go of Suigetsu and staggered forward. The lights flickered then went out, and everything went black.

* * *

Chojuro's eyes slowly opened to the gloomy white-gray color of the hospital ceiling. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in his chest forced him to fall back down. "Don't move too much, you'll hurt yourself," Mei said quietly. Chojuro looked over to find her seated next to his bed. "Oh! M-Mei-sama! I-I didn't know, er, you were here. I…ow…" he stammered, fidgeting painfully in his bed. "Calm down, Chojuro. I just came by to see that you were alright," Mei said comfortingly. "I-I'm just fine. I have a small headache, b-but that's all!" Mei smiled at the boy. "That's good. But you really scared me back there with the electricity. I was so worried that you would die from electrocution," she said, her face now close to his. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you," Chojuro said, blushing. "The good news is that you're now a chuunin," Mei said cheerfully. "Huh?!" he asked bewildered. "You and that other boy both passed out at the same time," she explained. "Since you two were the only ones left, the Mizukage decided to promote both of you to chuunin level." Chojuro smiled, proud of his accomplishment. "You fought very valiantly. Your method was a bit reckless, but it was still brave." "Thank you," Chojuro blushed an even deeper red. Mei stood up from her chair. "I'll let you get some rest, now." As she walked out of the room, the kunoichi looked back and said, "You know, you of the Mist." With that, Mei left. Chojuro closed his eyes. _Me? A Swordsman of the Mist?_ the boy thought as he drifted to sleep. He'd consider it.

**Like Oil And Water Part II- End**

_**By Rei-chan **_

**Please review and comment! I am open to constructive criticism! **


End file.
